Grey Wolf
Basic Information Name: Grey Wolf Concept: Eclipse Generalist Player: Jtuxyan Contact Info AIM: Jtuxyan Email: tfm43@cornell.edu Motivation: Convince his true love to marry him. Exalt Type: Solar Exalted Caste: Eclipse Age: 20 Anima: Distorted images of great and strange creatures, moving through alien cityscapes. History Grey Wolf started as an Immaculate Monk. Not a real monk, of course -- he was no Dragonblood. But one of their mortal followers. He was born on the threshold, where the monastery preached to the masses and slew the Lunar menace, his villages mighty shield against evil in a dangerous East. When he came of age, he shaved his head and asked to join their number, and was taken. He had little in the way of family -- a father who left when he was young and a mother who didn't care for him -- and so immersed himself in the Immaculate Philosophy as his new world. His quiet, frugal way made him well suited for the life of a monk, reading and transcribing texts at night and learning martial arts during the day. He proved adept and talented, and even distinguished himself in a Wyld Hunt, risking his life to distract a Lunar at a critical moment so the noble Dragonblooded could slay the ogre. Although he would clearly never be anything but mortal, he had the monks respect as much as any human could, and he was allowed to study the occult texts -- to one day become a thaumage of the Realm so that he could banish spirits of evil and assist his Dragonblooded masters. It was a responsibility he accepted as he accepted all things -- quietly, and reasonably, happy for the opportunity to better himself. In order to learn the thaumage's arts, he would need to journey to the greater monastery in Nexus, where the rarest of things -- an Immaculate Sorcerer -- would enlighten his Essence so he could learn the magical craft. She would open a new world for him, he was told, moving his soul that much closer to the Elemental Dragons. He was expecting an old, wizened mage -- or perhaps a wise monk, indistinguishable from the others. He found something else entirely. Her name was Tahi Yar. To everyone else, she was a distinguished figure -- a dragonblood of the purest breeding, her hair red, the fire in her soul reflected in her eyes. A master of the Immaculate style of fire and Terrestrial Circle Sorcerery, she was respected and feared even among exalts. With two lunars kills to her name -- one of them solo -- her rising star had already eclipsed many more experienced hunters. Injured in a Wyld Hunt -- left walking with a limp until he leg recovered -- she had returned to Nexus to reflect on what she has learned, and on the nature of the dragons above. While she was there, she acted to train mortal thaumages. A talented, powerful monk, but nothing more. To Grey Wolf, she was perfection incarnate upon Creation. It wasn't love at first sight -- how could you know someone by something so trivial as their appearance -- but the more he got to know her the more infatuated he became. When he looked at her, he saw beauty -- a razor wit and passionate soul, a creature of depth and might. All dragonblooded have the power to awe mortals with their magic, but she was the first he felt truly deserved it by more then just birthright. She was mysterious -- exotic, wonderful. And sworn to celibacy as part of her duty to the Immaculate Order. As was he. He founds reasons to delay his departure back to his home village -- dragged his feet in lessons, suggested alternate uses for her time, got involved in local preaching to the masses and charity. He even used his powers of mortal magic to cause an accident once -- a wind that blew the magical library to pieces, leaving all sorcerers and thaumage's occupied for weeks putting it back together. During that time, he came to know her better -- and made sure she got to know him as well, spending as much time with her as possible. Weeks stretched into months -- a low ranking, poor monk with a weakness for faerie drugs was bribed to officially take Grey Wolf on as part of his Wyld Hunt and then leave him to his own devices. She soon came to see him as a wonderfully talented, friendly mortal -- but just a mortal, never her true equal. He chipped away at her perceptions with his attentions and gentle diplomacy, until at last he was sure she cared for him in return, though neither of them could so much as breath a word of it on the temple grounds -- sorcerers were always watched more closely then the others, lest they fall to demonic influence. It took time, effort, and all the money and drugs he could beat out of criminals as bribes, but he managed to get both of them assigned on a task outside the monastery, alone. It was there that he took her hand and professed his love for her, asking her to break her vows and run away with him, for as long as he would live. She hesitated -- she fought herself within -- but in the end, she took his hand in return, and with the fiery passion he'd come to love, pulled him against her and accepted. It was the greatest moment of his life -- the culmination of ages of effort, observation, and gentle diplomacy. And at that moment, he exalted as one of the Eclipse Caste. She was shocked -- he was horrified. It was she who recovered sooner -- dropping into a kata to destroy the monster while it was still weak. Panicked and confused, Grey Wolf fled -- the surge of strength that comes with exaltation letting him escape away into the night, loosing her and the resultant Wyld Hunt. Fearing that she would never -- could never -- give him another chance, he fell to despair. He had exalted as one of the Deceivers, she must think that everything he told her was a lie to get her to break her vows -- a manipulation of such cruelty that the demon-gods had chosen to take him as one of their own. He cursed the heavens and from despair fell to rage, working a fiery, bloody trail across the landscape until exhaustion took him, the exalt collapsing into sleep. When he awoke, there was something there there was not before -- a hearthstone, red and glowing. When he took it, his magic was stronger, and he felt a strange urge -- a tug, pulling him into the north. With no other direction in his life, he followed it. He expected a faerie or demon trap, seeking death where it would come for him so that the world would be free of whatever evil caused his soul to be so marked. He walked -- for half a year, out of the East and into the North. He fought his way past the Tear Eater Tribes and the blood god, met the Bull of the North and took his council before proceeding on. He fled from the Immaculate Monks of Diamond Hearth, and walked the tunnels of the Dragon Kings of old in the mountains. It was in the ice and the cold of the north -- in the realms where dreams are real and fae hold domain over even the Lawgivers, that he found his manse. Within, tutors left by his first age self told him of all that he was. Of his deeds in ages past, of his destiny, his power -- of what being a Solar really means, and of the Unconquered Sun. He learned all they would teach him, and the greif lifted from his soul. His situation was not hopeless -- nothing was, now. He'd return to Creation, he'd become a hero! He'd prove that this was not a mark of evil and that he was destined to do great things! And when it was done -- when none in Creation could call him a monster, he'd return to Nexus and meet her again, and run away with her not as a mortal, to fade away while she remained young forever, but as an equal. The way the gods planned it when they exalted him. Appearance and Personality It's not hard to see where Grey Wolf got his name. It's unclear if he was blessed with highly unlikely genetics, or if he saw a theme going and just went for it, but his color scheme likes somewhere between black and white. His hair is grey with touches of brown at the edges which -- combined with his tendency to tilt his head slightly to the side when he is confused -- evokes nothing so much as the image of a grey wolfs fur. Were he really lupine, his eyes would run from gold to orange, but they are a perfectly mundane blue he usually covers up with dark glasses. Far from a clutz, he is nonetheless not the most agile of exalts, tending to adopt a still posture much of the time, his movements measured -- moving quickly only in great need. But when that need comes, he is quick -- the still, statue like Solar leaping into action in a blur of motion. By far the strangest part of his appearance is his anima banner. When it flares, cities of gold rise among him, their image blurred and twisted. While the city is clearly grand it seems...strange, alien, great creatures move amongst it's towers, their forms obscured by the banners warping. When asked what part of his soul this corresponds too, Grey Wolf only smiles and says it's a private matter. In manner and bearing, he's not as fiery as one might expect of an exalt. He keeps a frugal lifestyle by choice, but not a spartan one. He keeps servants and minions when needed, but does not seek them for their own sake. He arises early every morning to practice his kata's but seems to have no great martial prowess. If one had to describe him in a single word, it would be "unassuming" -- perhaps even a little cowardly. The exalt does not like conflict, and when pushed, will back down rather then allow a confrontation. All that changes however, when something he loves is threatened. When his life is in danger, he retreats. When his loved ones are in danger, he attacks. Those who invoke the exalts Compassion find themselves facing a very different beast from the quiet, scholarly solar. His words become aggressive -- his tone clipped, his eyes narrow and filled with contempt. The creatures in his anima banner hiss and snap with agitation. His manner is not of the warrior -- seeking conquest for it's own sake. But of one who has lost too much -- and will never let it happen again. He strikes not with his usual academic detachment, but with a mix of pain and rage. Seeing someone willingly abandon a loved one or someone under their protection also brings this demon to the surface, for a true coward is the one thing he will not broke. When the threat is ended, this mood passes quickly and he goes back to his old friendly self. Attributes Physical (Tertiary) Strength 2 Dexterity 3 Stamina 2 Social (Primary) Charisma 4 Manipulation 4 Appearance 3 Mental (Secondary) Perception 3 Intelligence 4 Wits 2 Abilities DAWN Archery Martial Arts 3 Melee Thrown War ZENITH Integrity Performance Presence 3 Resistance Survival TWILIGHT Craft Skills Craft (Air) 1 Craft (Earth) 2 Craft (Fire) 1 Craft (Water) 1 Craft (Wood) 1 Exotic Craft Skills Craft (Genesis) 1 Craft (Glamour) 0 Craft (Fate) 0 Craft (Magitech) 0 Craft (Moliating) 0 Investigation Lore Medicine Occult 4 NIGHT Athletics Awareness Dodge 4 Larceny Stealth ECLIPSE Bureaucracy 3 Linguistics 1 Ride 1 Sail 1 Socialize 1 Languages Native Language: Low Realm Old Realm Language 2 Language 3 Language 4 Language 5 Backgrounds Artifact 3: Circlet of Nobility Manse 3: Gem of Sorcerery Artifacts Circlet of Nobility +4 Presence, wearer always seems dignified and astute. Heart of Fire (In Potentia) +35 Peripheral Motes, user cannot control their passions. Will of Stone (In Potentia) +15 Peripheral Motes, +6L/6B Soak and 3 Hardness, user is slow to learn. Mind of Air (In Potentia) +15 Peripheral Motes, +1 Intelligence, Perception, and Dexterity, user deals with frustration poorly. Spirit of Water (In Potentia) +15 Peripheral Motes, variable ability benefits, user will seek out greater challenges. Breath of Wood (In Potentia) +15 Peripheral Motes, potent healing abilities, user will seek out joy or pleasure. Wheel of Elemental Unity (In Potentia) Elemental rejuvenation, side effects of all other artifacts negated. Manses Manse of Light and Darkness A hidden Manse beyond reality, full of magical secrets. (Manse's for later: http://rpg.wikia.com/wiki/Category:LDDD_Manses) Charms Here you should list your Charms. Please format them using Sub-Heading Mark-up by the related Ability (or Attribute, for you darn Lunars), and use * Bullet Lists for the individual Charm. More asterisks give you sub-bullets and sub-sub bullets, so you may freely represent trees of charms with indented bullets. Please begin each entry with the name of the charm in question, then a slash, the cost, another slash and the page (if applicable), and (if the Charm comes from a book other than Exalted 2nd Edition) the book it came from. (Custom Charms should simply have “Custom” in place of the Page entry, and no Book entry at all.) General Charms *First Martial Arts Excellency (Core, 184) *First Occult Excellency (Core, 184) *First Craft Excellency (Core, 184) *First Dodge Excellency (Core, 184) **Shadow Over Water (Core, 227) ***Seven Shadow Evasion (Core, 227) *Terrestrial Circle Sorcerery (Core, 220) **Celestial Circle Sorcerery (Core, 220) *Shadowlands Circle Necromancy (BT, 6) Charm Details No custom charms. Spells Terrestrial Circle Flying Guillotine (S&S, 107) Commanding Presence of Fire (WT, 40) (Don't have yet, get) Demon of the First Circle (Core, 252) Celestial Circle Imbune Amalgam (WT, 74) (Don't have yet, get) Demon of the Second Circle (Core, 252) God Forged Champion of War (WT, 73) (Don't have yet, get) Raising the Puissant Sanctum (WT, 79) (Don't have yet, get) Whirlwind of Fate (WT, 87) (Don't have yet, get) Solar Circle Shadowlands Circle Labyrinth Circle Void Circle Equipment Mundane Equipment Backpack of Adventurers Supplies (Provisions, rope, 10ft pole, etc) Robe Immaculate Martial Artists Robes Ritual Supplies Demon Summoners Book Perfect Iron Gloves Magical Equipment A block of stone, mined from the blessed isle Some statues with gems in the eyes Thaumages kit Vital Information Willpower 6/6 Virtues Compassion (Primary) 3/3 Conviction 3/3 Temperance 2/2 Valor 1/1 Limit 0/10 Virtue Flaw Vigilance of the Solar Guardian Limit Condition: A loved one is threatened. Limit Break Effect: The solar will go to any length to protect their loved ones -- no matter how much it interferes with their lives. How this manifests depends on the Solars personality. For instance, a violent Solar will go on a brutal rampage, killing anyone who so much as looks at his loved ones funny. A more peaceful Solar would seclude his loved ones away where they couldn't be hurt -- no matter how much they object. Combat Statistics Defense Values Dodge DV Dodge DV: 6 Parry DV Parry DV: 5 Mental Dodge DV MDV: 5 Mental Parry DV MPV: 4 Soak Bashing Soak: 3(3) Lethal Soak: 2(2) Aggravated Soak: 1(1) Health ~0 [ ] ~1 [ ] [ ] ~2 [ ] [ ] ~4 [ ] Incapacitated [ ] Dying Essence 3; 18/18 43/43 Personal 18/18 Peripheral 43/43 Committed 0 Other Information None Intimacies Tahi Yar (Positive) Experience 0/15 Various OOC Notes None Category:CotUS PC Category:Grey Wolf